I have just come back from my first training session with my fourteen week old puppy. The trainer used a choke chain and kept jerking it making him yelp, I was not happy but she said it was normal and she demonstrated on her wrist how it was not painful. After about 20 minutes of this I noticed his neck was marked and I called a halt, he by this time was shivering and had tried to come to me but he was jerked back I feel angry with myself that I did not stop it sooner or is this normal? I have never taken a puppy to classes before, it was a one to one lesson.

Hi Kessie, If his neck was marked,DONT take him there again. The "trainer" is obviously much too heavy handed. In my area at 14 weeks of age, the pups are only in the puppy play classes. Ask at your vets, they sometimes have puppy play classes, or will. at least. be able to recommend one to you. Give your baby lots of cuddles!!

Thank you Philippa
I must admit to having a weep when I "escaped" but I thought It was me being too soft

Puppies shouldnt really be trained on a one to one basis as they still need to be actively interacting with as many different puppies/dogs as possible in controlled circumstances.
Jerking any dog around by their neck deliberately like this is totally unneccessary and can cause damage. I only attened one class who insisted on choke chains and refused to go again.
Personally, if I were you, I'd complain to the trainer and report her to the relevant authorities as her 'method' of training could be deemed as causing unneccessary suffering.
Also it should be YOU training the pup not the trainer. A good trainer should be demonstrating to you how to train your dog and no pup should be jerked away from its owner.
I'm sure if you say where you are in the country someone may know a far better training school in your area and can point you in the right direction.

I appreciate what you say about it should be me training the pup but I thought I could do with some profesional help/advice the trainer was on my local council web site which I thought was a good recommendation she only does one to one training.

On reading your post again I think I misunderstood you, you mean I should have been the one to hold the lead and do the training, I think you are right. She noticed the marks on pup's neck and said next time she would use a half choke chain, she should be so lucky!!

Where abouts are you and what sort of puppy do you have? Are you wanting to show your puppy or are you looking for an obedience type of class?

A lot of question I know, but we can't advise you on a different class without those details. You say that the instructor you've just visited was on the council website - if I were you I'd complain to the council and the instructors governing body.

Try not to worry too much about your puppy, he'll get over the upset of the training session and will still love you :)

Fiona
x x x

I live near Stirling my pup is a Weimaraner (not a lot of fur on his neck) I do not intend showing him I just want him to walk well on a lead and stop/stay when I need him to.

Kessie that wasn't a dig at you! It is clear that you thought you were doing what was right for your pup. I certainly would complain to the council about this womans problems. Please do let us know where you are and I'm sure someone will get you in touch with a decent trainer.

Thank you Bec I didn't think you were getting at me, I am just grateful for any advice. I am from Stirling.

Hi Kessie

I have to agree with Philippa here & all the other posters..my puppy was 6 months before she went on a choke chain, and even then it was only a half choke, she had finished her puppy course and was onto her domestic course. At 14 wks, they should be interacting and playing with each other, not serious training...ie., healwork, etc. In our puppy class, we did a tiny bit of heal work, sit stay, down etc and then they were all let off the lead to play. We only had half an hour, so as you can imagine it flew by...the important this is for them to enjoy what they are doing..

I personally would try and find somewhere else close to you, and go into a group class, and see how you get on. Hope your pup is ok...:D

Natasha

The who;e purpose of training classes at this age is to socialise the pup, and to enable YOU to train it with the distraction that other dogs present. I would certainly not allow someone to jerk my puppy around!

I think check chains can be a useful tool with some of the bigger wilful dogs, used correctly, and not to strngle the dog. with a young pupy like yours a half slip collar would be quite eno7gh, with the sound of the chain tightening to cue the pup that the collar will tighten. the beauty of the half check is that it can only close to the width of the pups neck when adjusted properly, and will be nice and loose when dog doesn't pull.

Well done you for realising that this is just not on!

It is very hard to stand up to a trainer who says this is normal.....but you did the best you could by stopping it. The trainer should not have been giving a pup one to one, they do indeed need socialsing. YOur pup now needs good experiences with kind trainers who will make training fun for you too, and not stressful and worrying/upsetting.

Do please tell the //council about your experiences; think of all the other pups who will be frightened.

Leaving marks on the pup's neck is unforgiveable.

lindsay